Hope and healing playlist

Posted on by Julia Walsh

As we wait in the dark for the coming of Christ during these Advent days, it can be tough, at times, to keep going.

When we serve others we touch the wounds of Christ; we encounter the heartache and pain of our neighbors. When we read the news headlines right alongside the promises of Christ, it can be tempting to doubt that the Incarnation really changed things and made the world better. Our consciousness about global oppression and the weight of natural disasters can be crushing, discouraging.

One way that I keep my eyes open to the Light is to tune into songs that feed me with encouragement and strength. I want to have music in my head that keeps me singing with hopeful joy. I want to dance to beats that help me persevere and trust that God’s in charge, that the fullness of God’s goodness is on its way.

With all this in mind, I have created a playlist for all of you who are in need of hope and healing. Many good people gave me input for this list — thanks to all of you!

Perhaps you also will find that these tunes, and some of their particular lyrics, can energize your Gospel living. May you remain hopeful and strong, even when the messy chaos and darkness distract from Christ’s light.

“Till We Reach That Day” from “Ragtime,” the musical

Give the people
A day of peace.
A day of pride.
A day of justice
We have been denied.
Let the new day dawn,
Oh, Lord, I pray…
We’ll never get to heaven
Till we reach that day.

“You will be found” from “Dear Evan Hansen,” the musical

Even when the dark comes crashing through
When you need a friend to carry you
When you’re broken on the ground
You will be found

So let the sun come streaming in
‘Cause you’ll reach up and you’ll rise again
If you only look around

You will be found.

“Somewhere to begin” by TR Ritchie, sung by Sara Thomsen
People say to me, “Oh, you gotta be crazy!
How can you sing in times like these?
Don’t you read the news? Don’t you know the score?
How can you sing when so many others grieve?”
People say to me, “What kind of fool believes
That a song will make a difference in the end?”
By way of reply, I say a fool such as I
Who sees a song as somewhere to begin
A song is somewhere to begin
The search for something worth believing in
If changes are to come
there are things that must be done
And a song is somewhere to begin.
“The Transfiguration” by Sufjan Stevens
And keep your word, disguise the vision ’till the time has come.
Lost in the cloud, a voice. Have no fear! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign. Son of man! Turn your ear.
Lost in the cloud, a voice. Lamb of God! We draw near!
“Open Up” by The Brilliance

Hope for the hopeless, Your love is
Strength in our weakness, Your love is
May we love, as You love
Hope for the hopeless, Your love is
Strength in our weakness, Your love is
May we love, as You love
(As only You can love, oh God)

“All my hope” by Crowder featuring Tauren Wells

There’s a kind of thing that just breaks a man
Break him down to his knees
God, I’ve been broken more than a time or two
Yes, Lord then He picked me up and showed me
What it means to be a man

Come on and sing
All my hope is in Jesus
Thank God my yesterday’s gone

“Rise Up” by Andra Day
You’re broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can’t find the fighter
But I see it in you so we gonna walk it out
And move mountains
We gonna walk it out
And move mountains
And I’ll rise up
I’ll rise like the day
I’ll rise up
I’ll rise unafraid

Feel free to share in the comments section. Which songs provide hope and healing to you? Which songs keep you going and help you spread God’s light in the darkness?

Messy Christian music playlist

Posted on by Julia Walsh

Every ordinary day, I am reminded that I am weak and desperately need God.

When I forget the birthday of someone dear to me, when I lose my keys, when irritation and anger bubble up in my heart–each experience of imperfection can block my trust in God.

I am tempted to think I am worthless and ought to stop trying. In times like these, this song speaks to me.

I want to avoid admitting my brokenness. I would rather freeze and stop turning to God. Yet, I know that only God can provide the freedom and hope I need. Here is a tune to inspire faith and freewill.

I know I am a sinner. I can be cruel and selfish. Ugly thoughts and actions clog up the loving in my life. I feel dirty and worthless. Here is a song for trials like these.

Sometimes my faith doesn’t feel deep. I get it in my heart that God has the ability to work great miracles, to free me from troubles in the most dramatic of ways. Yet, my head doubts that will happen. This song helps keep hope alive.

I am constantly on a journey of conversion and transformation, as God brings me through these challenges. This tune helps me remember that God is with me in my lows and the awesome highs of life.

In the end, God’s embrace is the greatest place of peace I know. I am so restless, and God is the only source of rest and strength.

Thanks be to God for the comfort we all can know, for the music that will help us make our way through the beautiful mess of the human experience.

Amen!

 

Easter freedom playlist

Posted on by Julia Walsh

This Easter season is full of all sorts of life-changing, resurrection energy. The Risen Christ is alive and among us!

Praise music is in order as we party down and praise God; celebrate our freedom from chains of sin and oppression.

We are set free to serve and act as healers and helpers in this hurting world.

Here are some tunes I find especially energizing; music that pumps me up and encourage me as I go forth to spread the Good News through loving service and words:

God’s Not Dead, by Newsboys

Break Every Chain by Jesus Culture

Back to Life by Hillsong Young & Free

No Longer Slaves by Jonathan and Melissa Helser

Burn Like A Star by Rend Collective

Oceans by Hillsong United

Sparrow by Audrey Assad

 

 

3 tunes for a good God-filled day

Posted on by Julia Walsh

Good morning!

Let’s turn our eyes to God as we start this day!

Here’s a good song to get you pumped up for the blessing of another day:

Here’s a song to ponder the fact that you are miracle, that you are one of many imperfect people:

And, finally, we know that living the Gospel is messy. It requires authentic brokenness and dependence on God, for we are all works in progress:

May God bless you as your heart sings to God through the ups and downs of this day! Amen!

 

 

 

Singing with my Sister Thea

Posted on by Julia Walsh

Today is a day for singing. And I mean singing. 

We are celebrating the life of a Sister whose legacy continues to unfold. Sister Thea Bowman died 25 years ago today, at age 52. And Sister Thea’s life was a life of song.

Photo credit: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1001322.htm

I never got to meet Sister Thea in person. Yet, through the communion of saints and our shared membership in the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, I feel quite connected to her. I first heard of Sister Thea during my first telephone conversation with the FSPA Membership Director in 2003. Sister Dorothy encouraged me to pray to Sister Thea for guidance in my discernment journey. Even before she met me in person, she said that I reminded her of Thea. When I visited St. Rose Convent and learned more about Sister Thea a few weeks later, I began to understand the connection that Sister Dorothy sensed.

Now, much of who Sister Thea is and what she stood for continues to enliven me and my life of Gospel living. In her, I get to know some of the freedom that being a FSPA gifts me. She models a life of authenticity and spunk. She shows me how to speak up for justice, even if I am speaking to power. I pray that I also express joy and proclaim a fiery message of inclusion and equality.

Here is a video of Sister Thea’s famous speech to the U.S. Bishops about Black Catholic spirituality in 1989.

Our Church has a lot of work to do, to fully integrate Sister Thea’s vision– just as we have a lot of work to do to live out the invitations of the Gospel.

As we work for the Church we hope for, we shall sing. So, today is a day when I have lively African American spirituals in my head and on my lips. Today is a day when I am praying for a Church that lives out the message that Sister Thea proclaimed, a day to celebrate the joy that comes from knowing Jesus.

Today is a day for singing.

Holy Week Soundtrack

Posted on by Julia Walsh

During this sacred week there are certain songs that, without fail, end up on repeat in my head. Perhaps you’re interested, as the music could enrich your Holy Week too.

Palm Sunday

“Hosana” from Jesus Christ Superstar

Holy Thursday

“Stay With Me” by the Taize community

Good Friday

“Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)?” Sung by Johnny Cash

Holy Saturday

Actually, this day does not have a song.

It is a day of silence, listening, waiting, and hoping. For me, this can is only done well without an agenda and with a lot of openness and trust in God. This will actually be the main thing I’ll tune into during Triduum this year.

From: http://virtualmethodist.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-sound-of-silence.html

 

 

Easter Sunday

“Christ the Lord is Risen Today” Preformed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

 

Hope you have a Blessed Holy Week & Happy Easter, Messy Jesus Business readers!

Peace, Sister Julia

Christ the King party music

Posted on by Julia Walsh

Happy Feast of Christ the King!

I’ve shared thoughts about this day in the past.

Today though, I just want to provide some music and humor for your Christ the King celebrations.  Enjoy!

First, some classic hymns made into catchy praise and worship music:

And, now for a hymn with some humor:

Have fun! And, let Christ rule over all of your life! AMEN!

heart adventures

Posted on by Julia Walsh

The last time I wrote, I mentioned I was open to going on summer adventures.  I wrote this in metaphorical language and I prayed that God would bless all of us in our deep exploring.

God is bigger than metaphor.  Living the Gospel is always a great adventure.

I have been blessed, indeed. My summer is half way over and I have been enriched and enlightened by a lot of great activity: studying theology at Catholic Theological Union, my community’s assembly, fun with sisters, family and friends, travel, writing and sharing poetry and participating in a young nun gathering in California.

I have also been doing some listening.  In my adventures, music is often my companion. This song, especially, has been speaking to me:

Much of my life is about prayer and contemplation, this is the main activity I am about as a Franciscan sister.  Right now, I am thankful for the time and space to seep up God’s sacred presence all over the place, even in my adventurous travels and fun.

"bay bridge" photo by Julia Walsh FSPA (I got to see this on one of my recent adventures.)
“bay bridge” photo by Julia Walsh FSPA
(I got to see this on one of my recent adventures.)

No matter where I am, I try to be still and open, to really lean and listen to God’s stirring in my heart- because that’s a greater adventure than exploring a city or a giant forest.

When I am open, I get to experience “kingdom come.”

When I am awake, I am energized by God who is like a “burning ring of fire.”

I believe, God is calling each of us to greater growth, wisdom, development.  It’s the love of God that enlivens and energizes us.  With God, we keep evolving.   God’s power is deep within us, God’s ways are written on our hearts.

This is ancient stuff.

Moses said to the people:
“If only you would heed the voice of the LORD, your God,
and keep his commandments and statutes
that are written in this book of the law,
when you return to the LORD, your God,
with all your heart and all your soul.
“For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.
It is not up in the sky, that you should say,
‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’
Nor is it across the sea, that you should say,
‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us
and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’
No, it is something very near to you,
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”    – Deuteronomy 30: 10-14

Yes, God is moving us into new ways, into an exciting new Gospel-centered future.  Are we open? We must be open to really carry it out! God help us, Amen!

beauty with ugly: our real Advent stories

Posted on by Julia Walsh

Our lives are made of Advent stories. As advent people, pain and sorrow erupt right with joy and elation.

A couple of days ago, I had a real Advent experience.

I know a darling preschooler who I believe is a modern child saint. She teaches her stuffed animals how to pray the sign of the cross and she loves talking to her younger siblings about God.  I love her and her parents a lot, as they are some of my dearest friends from college.  The other day I heard from the three-and-a-half year old’s mother and learned that this dear little girl has been diagnosed with leukemia.  The message was a request for prayers, as she must now go through chemotherapy for the next two-and-a-half years. (Please join us in prayers for miracles.)  The awful news sunk my heart to a near-collapse.

While I was the middle of emailing a prayer request for the little girl and her family to my community’s adoration chapel coordinator, my phone rang.  It was my dad. He was calling to tell me that my younger sister had her highly anticipated baby and I am now an aunt! After I squealed and shed a few tears of joy, I added another line to my email before I sent it. “In thanksgiving for the birth of my nephew!”

My prayer request was a combination of sorrow and elation.  Together, my email was a cry for help and a message of praise and thanksgiving.

In a matter of minutes my heart experienced the extremes of our chaotic, human experience.  In each of our lives, the beauty and joy coincides with the awful and ugly every day.

"lamp with chipped paint" by Julia Walsh, FSPA
“lamp with chipped paint” by Julia Walsh, FSPA

Thousands of years ago, God’s people were exiled and had forgotten their promise to be faithful to the covenant.  They started repenting and saying they were sorry for breaking God’s great law of love.  Then a great voice came forward and told them to change out of their penitential clothes and get all dressed up.  It was time, he said, to show that they were children of God, made out of beauty and love. Sure, they had messed up, but there were reasons to rejoice and have hope.

Here’s what the prophet said:

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery;
put on the splendor of glory from God forever:
wrapped in the cloak of justice from God,
bear on your head the mitre
that displays the glory of the eternal name.
For God will show all the earth your splendor:
you will be named by God forever
the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship.
Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that they are remembered by God.
Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you
borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.
For God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground,
that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
The forests and every fragrant kind of tree
have overshadowed Israel at God’s command;
for God is leading Israel in joy
by the light of his glory,
with his mercy and justice for company.   -Baruch 5:1-9

Our God has created a mysterious, paradoxical world.  Our human ways are messy and ugly, yet beautiful and glorious.  It’s in nature: if we examine a swamp we can see life coming out of the mud.  If we go to our gardens, we can notice how the decay of our compost waste renews and restores new life.

We can also look at the impacts of our human actions.  If we go to our war-zones we can see art rising from the destruction.  We can also see how the songs of symphonies are sometimes created from slums of our trash. The stories in this movie make that very literal:

It’s true and just like all of us!  Despite our garbage, we get to be instruments of God and make music to sparkle out God’s glory.  Even if all the darkness is too heavy or we feel like we are just ugly waste, God can create us into something new. We don’t really know what that will be.  Let’s stay open while we wait.

Instruments can only make good music if they are empty and open.  As instruments of God,  joyful songs of hope and beauty can ring through our empty, broken sorrowing souls.  God makes the music, we need to be ready to do the work.

These are real Advent stories that teach us about an Advent way of being.  In our world of pain and darkness, the Light of Christ is glowing bright.  We are children of that Light!  We get to act like our parent, and help the Light illumine the darkness.  Daily we get to say yes to helping beauty be right along side the dirt of our pain and sorrow.

It’s such good news!  We get to trust and have hope, by God’s grace our ugly stories and feelings can become songs of beauty and light! Amen!  Happy Advent!

with my feet

Posted on by Julia Walsh

A version of this post was previously posted here.

While I was in my early 20s and discerning sisterhood, I felt insecure about my prayer life. I envied people who were able to wake up at the same time every day and pray in the same way. I had some silly impression that that’s what made a Christian a good Christian – whether they were able to sit still with God before they did anything else. As I grew to understand and accept myself more, I quickly realized that God didn’t really make me to be a consistent creature. Every day is different, and my relationship with God is very on-the-go.

In fact, when I shut up and paid attention to God in the people I knew, I started to notice how God was telling me that I was OK just as I was. One of my dear friends, who knows some things about God, kept saying “Julia, you pray with your feet.” I felt affirmed, yet still doubtful. Then I met a young monk from an Eastern religion who taught me that within humanity there are two different dispositions to enlightenment. Some people are enlightened through meditation and others are enlightened through service.

I’ve always been compelled to serve. Giving and caring for others is a blessing, just as it is a blessing to allow others to care for me. When I teach youth about service I remind them over and over that service is not about doing something. Service is not about entering someone’s world and getting busy. Service is about building relationships with people who are different than you and providing a loving presence, like Jesus did. It’s allowing them to change you as you learn about their lives and their world.

During my first summer of working with the Peacebuilders Initiative, I accompanied some teenagers to a shelter for women (and their children) who are in recovery on the South Side of Chicago. There we participated in the music class with an organization called Harmony, Hope, and Healing. Aware that the women had been formerly homeless made the experience even more awesome. Diverse strangers crammed into a living room, we all sang our hearts out. I heard million dollar voices sing hymns of praise. I realized, in tears, that this was what I had been hoping for every time I prayed “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”

Singing, praying and dancing with the children at St. Martin de Porres in Chicago

Later, we danced and prayed with musical instruments as we marched down the street to the park. Aware that it was a neighborhood of violence, I prayed with every step that the music we made blessed all of creation. The women told their stories and I told them how amazing they were and then we prayed, cried and hugged. It was one of the best prayer services I ever attended.